Fraid I'm still non the wiser...
Love the lights though -it was often my birthday treat to drive through them and stop at Kentucky fried chicken on the way home!
That's not a treat It's a sentence.
Blackpool Illuminations Switch On
- Thread starter gynn
- Start date
That's not a treat It's a sentence.
well, I have heard of him......but I have to admit that I loathe him.
OK, call me sad! I do have a sense of humour, but it isn't tickled by crude,lewd behaviour and foul language. (shudders)
It can't be a generational thing because Ma loves him and laughs her socks off at him.
OK, call me sad! I do have a sense of humour, but it isn't tickled by crude,lewd behaviour and foul language. (shudders)
It can't be a generational thing because Ma loves him and laughs her socks off at him.
Potato!!!!!!
i love him, 
does any one know if you have to buy tickets this year for the switch on, as i heard last year you did.
does any one know if you have to buy tickets this year for the switch on, as i heard last year you did.
So you don't like Chaucer, eh
Was he the guy who switched on the 1382 lights? There was controversy then as well. No-one outside Canterbury had ever heard of him.
I have to admit that I haven't read Chaucer(though I am sure there are sanitised versions that a prude like me would accept)....but I guess it would be full of Old English language......some of which is still in use today....as expletives and derogatory remarks.So you don't like Chaucer, eh
I don't find crude, lewd behaviour, with or without bad language, the least bit comedic.
It isn't big and it isn't clever. I choose not to watch it.
He is crude.
But part of the joke is the character's a pastiche, and reflects today's obsession with celebrity.
Similar to Alan Partridge.
Who showed that you don't need to be intelligent to work in television.
Just luckily in the right place, at the right time.
But part of the joke is the character's a pastiche, and reflects today's obsession with celebrity.
Similar to Alan Partridge.
Who showed that you don't need to be intelligent to work in television.
Just luckily in the right place, at the right time.
Past celebrities, who've switched on the illuminations.
My own favourite was Gilbert Harding, in '54.
He was a hoot.
My own favourite was Gilbert Harding, in '54.
He was a hoot.
- 1934 Lord Derby
- 1935 Audrey Mossom (Railway Queen)
- 1936 Sir Josiah Stamp
- 1937 Prince George, Duke of Kent
- 1938 Councilor Mrs Quayle
- 1939-1948 Canceled in 1939 due to outbreak of World War II
- 1949 Anna Neagle
- 1950 Wilfred Pickles
- 1951 Stanley Matthews
- 1952 Valerie Hobson
- 1953 George Formby
- 1954 Gilbert Harding
- 1955 Jacob Malik (Soviet Ambassador)
- 1956 Reginald Dixon
- 1957 John H. Whitney (American Ambassador)
- 1958 AE "Matty" Matthews
- 1959 Jayne Mansfield
- 1960 Janet Munro
- 1961 Violet Carson
- 1962 Shirley Anne Field
- 1963 Cliff Michelmore
- 1964 Gracie Fields
- 1965 David Tomlinson
- 1966 Ken Dodd
- 1967 Horace King
- 1968 Matt Busby
- 1969 Canberra Bomber
- 1970 Tony Blackburn
- 1971 The cast of Dad's Army
- 1972 Danny La Rue
- 1973 Gordon Banks
- 1974 Wendy Craig
- 1975 Cast of Doctor Who: Tom Baker (in costume as The Doctor), Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter
- 1976 Carol Jean Grant (Miss United Kingdom)
- 1977 Red Rum
- 1978 Terry Wogan
- 1979 Kermit the Frog and The Muppets
- 1980 Cannon and Ball (Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball)
- 1981 Earl & Countess Spencer
- 1982 Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward
- 1983 Cast of Coronation Street, switched on by Doris Speed
- 1984 Johannes Rau (Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia) and David Waddington,(Minister of State, the Home Office)
- 1985 Joanna Lumley, BBC Children in Need
- 1986 Les Dawson
- 1987 Frank Bough, Anne Gregg and Kathy Tayler all from the BBC Holiday programme
- 1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman
- 1989 Frank Bruno
- 1990 Julie Goodyear and Roy Barraclough
- 1991 Derek Jameson and Judith Chalmers
- 1992 Lisa Stansfield
- 1993 Status Quo & Radio 1
- 1994 Shirley Bassey
- 1995 Bee Gees & Radio 1
- 1996 Eternal & Radio 1
- 1997 Michael Ball & Radio 2
- 1998 Chris de Burgh & Radio 2
- 1999 Gary Barlow & Radio 2
- 2000 Westlife & Radio 2
- 2001 Steps & Radio 2
- 2002 Ronan Keating & Radio 2
- 2003 Blue & Radio 2
- 2004 Geri Halliwell & Radio 2
- 2005 Chris Evans & Radio 2
- 2006 Dale Winton & Radio 2
- 2007 David Tennant & Radio 2
- 2008 Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and The Stig from Top Gear (James May did not make it in time and The Stig turned them on because Clarkson and Hammond were arguing about who should turn them on)[11] & Radio 2
- 2009 Alan Carr & Radio 2
- 2010 Robbie Williams & Real Radio and Smooth Radio
- 2011 Keith Lemon &Real Radio and Smooth Radio
Some interesting names there - saw Clarkson + chums doing it on their programme recently on Discovery Channel. Glad to see Dr. Who managed 2 appearences and, always the true Time-Lord, looked younger in his later materialisation. Never heard of Dale Winton, Blue and Steps - why on earth did they invite the PM of North Rhine-Westphalia?
He is crude.
But part of the joke is the character's a pastiche, and reflects today's obsession with celebrity.
Yes....I get that bit......he is a character, but one that youngsters see and feel that because of what he does on TV, somehow makes that kind of behaviour acceptable...normal even.
That is a very sad reflection on what we have become.
He may get a lot of laughs, he isn't my cup of tea.
Would think that was due to the fact that Blackpool is twinned with Bottrop ... a city in the North Rhine .. Westphalia.
Was he the guy who switched on the 1382 lights? There was controversy then as well. No-one outside Canterbury had ever heard of him.
Yeah ... that's the guy
Wat Tyler, who was probably an ancestor of Liv Tyler, got the nod for the job; but he was dumb enough to get himself offed because someone mistook him for a revolting peasant.
One bloke said it was art, a light bulb switching on and off in an empty roomI find it amazing how many people don't know what a light bulb looks like.I've had them for years now.
Was probably a pub landlord.One bloke said it was art, a light bulb switching on and off in an empty room